Healthy Living, Heart Health, and Recreational Therapy

Medical news continues to trend on healthy living styles to decrease negative health outcomes, especially cardiovascular diseases. Cardiovascular health is becoming a focal point of research in the past decade since becoming the leading cause of death in the United States, according to the CDC. A new research study was published this year on the 4 main cardiovascular health factors and their correlation to healthy living. The four health categories are being sufficiently active, eating a healthy diet, being a nonsmoker, and having a recommended body fat percentage. The results of this study concluded that only 2.7% of adults in the United States were tested as healthy in all 4 areas. For those considered unhealthy for one of more areas, secondary diagnosis were present of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and compromised fasting glucose, protein, WBC, and homocysteine levels.

What does this mean for recreational therapy as an allied health profession? What programs can be implemented to continue to promote patient cardiovascular health through educational and physical fitness interventions?

For more information about this cardiovascular health study, please see below link: